Is the Traditional Corporate University Dead?

Are traditional Corporate Universities dying off? Through some work we have been doing with Henry Mintzberg, Phil and I recently came aware of a fascinating corporate training program at ING Bank in Amsterdam.  ING is a global financial institution of Dutch origin, offering banking, investments, life insurance, and retirement services to 85 million customers in 40 countries. I have taught some of ING employees  on the MBA at the Rotterdam School of Management - always impressive people.

The story concerns two of ING's learning professionals, Mireille Jansma and Jurgen Egges, who oversee "innovative learning." (Their job title alone piqued my interest.) In an effort to make corporate learning more responsive to rapidly changing trends and to expand its reach into ING's total workforce, Jansma and Egges devised a strategy that they called "Connect, Connect, Connect." Abbreviated Connect3, the name reflects their philosophy that the most effective corporate learning derives from connecting (1) people with information, (2) people with people, and (3) communities with communities.

The Connect3 strategy consists of a sort of 1-2-3 punch of coordinated "learning events" all focused on expanding the corporate learning platform.

First, Jansma and Egges gather articles and reports about relevant trends in management, banking, and finance. Next, they broadcast out what they call "Research Alerts" - a summary and links to the articles - using the social bookmarking site Diigo and via an email blast to any ING employee who signed up for the alerts...

-Article by Karl Moore and Phil Lenir

Read full article: Forbes, September 7, 2011